Good morning! I have something exciting to show you! The oh-so-talented blogger and pose maker Bouncer Criss has released a new girl pose pack. As a blogger, I am CONSTANTLY on the hunt for great poses, and let me tell you- I like these a lot. Now, I might be a tiny bit biased because he asked me to pose for the ad photos, but as I was, I was going “aww” and “ooh” cuz I really really like them.

You can go try them out inworld or just grab them on Marketplace! Six poses PLUS mirrors and they’re only 100L. You can’t beat that.

Here is a photo I took using one of these great new poses:

You know you can never have too many awesome poses, so go pick them up today! Now! Go!

Hey! So, I know I already posted today, but this is a special post! Mon Tissu is having a blogger search and I’ve decided to throw my hat into the ring. I mean, why not give it a go? The possibility of blogging for one of my favorite stores on the grid narrowly outweighs my feelings of insecurity and my nerves… and… is it hot in here?

ANYWAYS, the rules are that I have to take a photo and write a paragraph, similar to my normal blog posts. So, I’ll ramble a little then show you what I chose to wear, ok? Ok!

Can you believe that just last year around this time, mesh was barely being used? The jacket and scarf I am wearing are beautiful and cozy but completely sculpty attachments and clothing layers. For you mesh holdouts, I’m not too worried about you guys finding lovely fall and winter wear. While Mon Tissu’s mesh offerings are AMAZING, their earlier items are just as beautiful and I’m not at all ashamed to run around in non-mesh items when they’re this high quality. The shoes I’m wearing ARE mesh, but not rigged. This means you can still reposition them and all that, they’re just much more detailed than, say, sculpted prims.

You’ve maybe seen me blog these Jane jeans 1000 times, and they *are* mesh, and wonderful and they fit perfectly, and… just go fatpack them, ok?

My earlier post photo was taken at Izzie’s and so is this one. I cannot stay away from this sim right now. Go check it out. If you see me there, say, “Hi!”

So, I was halfway through writing this post when I went to add a link to the Exile Blog to show you the hairs that were released today… and lovely WordPress wiped the whole post. SO, lemme just show you this hair. Along with the hair, I’ve got on one of the super adorable Deco Collars that are available in PIDIDDLE’s gatchas at The Arcade event, which starts tomorrow! Check out this Arcade Shopping Guide or The Arcade Flickr Group to see more previews of the super fun, cute, amazing, wonderful, and drool-worthy items that will be available at this really cool event!! Also, have a lovely weekend and I hope you get some really fun stuff from The Arcade gatchas!!

Who needs breakfast in bed when you can have it on the table… *smirks*

This adorable table and chair set is by {what next} for Zombie Popcorn. It comes in three colors (this one is called Popsicle). Included are the table, two chairs, these pretty candles and TONS of poses. It has both male and female poses which come with a variety of props, and it also has couple poses! It’s perfect for your breakfast nook or patio! Hurry up and grab yours today, as this rotation is only available until August 4!

The skybox shown is by Barenesworth Anubis for Collabor88. He has completely outdone himself. You MUST go to Collabor88 if only to tp to the demo skybox and gasp at how lovely it is.

Quick post today. Ok, go read about this. Now, if you join the group, you’ll get lots of fancy pretty things. One of the fancy pretty things this go ’round is this LOVELY top from Cracked Mirror. IF you are not into the whole box thing, you can still get the top at the mainstore! Who doesn’t need more sparkles and sequins?

Hey guys, just a quick one today. As usual, Collabor88 is amazing. This month has a lovely muted palette. It’s very sandy and beachy and… makes me smile. You should really go check it out. There is also some great furniture and poses and an AMAZING Barnesworth Anubis skybox. Why are you still here? GO!

Sometimes I feel like everyone is completely bought in to mesh, but then I leave my immediate circle. There is still a lot of misinformation and apprehension about mesh. Ask anyone, and I’m sure they’ll have an opinion about it. I have had some very interesting conversations on the topic, so I decided to do a blog post to tell you how I came to my own stance on mesh.

Last winter, when I came back to Second Life after my almost-year-long hiatus, I started asking my friends what was new in SL. The biggest new thing I kept hearing about was mesh. Everyone told me how cool it was, and that it moves with your avatar, and that it’s so much better than prims and sculpts, and they just couldn’t say enough good things about mesh! Honestly, I wasn’t sold. First off, I had to download a new viewer to even SEE mesh, and even then it was hit or miss. Sometimes people would appear to simply be missing sections of their bodies (due to them wearing alphas, but their mesh not showing up for me). I went and tried a few mesh things on, and none of it really fit me. There was always something sticking out here or there or some gap or… ugh! It was frustrating. I learned that rigged mesh is actually attached to the skeleton of our avatar, so it stretches according to the “structure” of our avatars, like width or height. What makes fitting tricky is the “fat” content of our avatars. I am no expert, but as I understand it, the clothing is rigged at a certain distance from the skeleton to create curves and whatnot. The problem is, everyone was rigging these clothes to certain shapes, but no one knew what these shapes were.

I was told that in order to fit mesh, I would have to change my avatar shape. I was definitely apprehensive about that. First of all, I made my own shape, and I put a lot of work into it. I had spent a lot of time perfecting my shape. My shape is my own, not store-bought. I actually carried it over from my original avatar, and I’ve since modified it to continue to have the exact look I want. After almost 5 years of tweaking, I really didn’t want to lose my uniqueness. Secondly, change what? Do I have to have giant boobs or be super thin or… like, what do I even change? I didn’t see the point of making all of these changes to fit mesh. Why go through so much effort for some clothes!? I liked my system clothes and I was used to sculpts.

Even though it seemed sort of complicated, I decided to keep an open mind about it. This was mostly because so many of the new mesh releases I was seeing were absolutely gorgeous and I was starting to feel really sad that I didn’t own them. For every good looking mesh item, though, there seemed to be a not-so-great one. Mesh was still really hit or miss in my eyes, and I wasn’t ready to make a commitment to changing my shape for every single thing I bought.

I continued to talk to my friends about mesh and the reasons I wasn’t wearing it. I actually really wanted to wear mesh, but the uncertainty about how exactly to mod my shape and still be “me” is what most made me shy away. During one of these conversations, I was told about a new system called Standard Sizing that a few designers came out with. Through some research, they had figured out a few averages for avatar shapes and would now be making clothing according to these averages. Their system allowed people to modify their shape just once, and then fit into all clothing made by these designers.

I found the Standard Sizing package here on the Marketplace and read the notecard. It answers these questions:

– What is Standard Sizing?
– What is the purpose of Standard Sizing?
– How do you know the Standard-Sized shapes are accurate?
– Where are female XL and XXL?
– Won’t we look like a bunch of clones if we’re all using the same 5 shapes?
– Where can I get these shapes and how much do they cost?
– What if my own personal avatar size doesn’t match one of the Standard Sizes?
– I am a creator. How do I make use of the Standard-Sized shapes, and how do I let my customers know I am using Standard Sizing?
– How do I let my customers know what Standard Sizing is?
– I create and sell shapes. Can I use the Standard-Sized shapes as a base for shapes that I sell?

It also gives you the 8 relevant slider numbers that will allow you to fit into every size from XXS to L. The package was recently updated to include male measurements as well.

I took the plunge and modified my shape (I even blogged my new shape). I chose to go with Standard Size XS because it was closest to my own shape. I did have to make my boobs and butt bigger, but a lot of the other numbers were within 5 of my original numbers anyway. I have since enjoyed wearing mesh very much. I still wear system clothes, and I still wear sculpts. I even wear a few non-standard items and slightly mod my shape to fit them. I have realized that what really makes my avatar unique isn’t those 8 particular numbers. For me, the clothes I choose say more about my style than my avatar’s breast size. I can still change every slider that pertains to bone structure. There are 5 standard sizes to choose from, and they will look different on every person depending on how they choose to move all the other sliders available.

I will show you how the different standard sizes look on my avatar, so you can see that Standard Sizing is not about enforcing some model shape or stick figure look (which is an argument I hear very often). My height is set to 25, and the only numbers I changed from photo to photo are the 8 that pertain to standard sizing. (Click image to view larger.)

Can I get really mooshy and cliché here for a minute? I understand that our avatar is how we choose to represent ourselves in Second Life, and therefore we get attached to the way they look. We also tend to judge other avatars based on appearance. I am quite guilty of this myself. Let’s all take a second to remember what ACTUALLY makes each avatar unique, though. Behind every little pixel Barbie or Ken or Skipper is a real person with a real heart and a real mind and a real story. I hope that no matter what side of the mesh or Standard Sizing (or any other) argument you fall on, you (and I) continue remember that and treat each other like people, not pixels. ❤

If you want more information about keeping your own shape while still fitting mesh, Luna Jubilee did a fantastic tutorial on fitting mesh here. Strawberry Singh also recently posted some links in one of her recent blog posts that are relevant to the next new thing being discussed in mesh, called a mesh deformer. As I understand it, this is something that will make it possible for mesh to fit any shape. It is still in very early testing stages, but it is a very interesting development. Just like all things in SL, mesh is just going to get better as more smart and creative people develop new fantastic ways to make it work for everyone!

Hey! By now, I know a lot of you are unboxing and trying on all of your Mesh Around Hunt goodies! If you haven’t started this hunt yet, GET ON IT! You have until the 15th. If you’re still on the hunt, keep your eyes peeled for the blue “M” at Jinx’d, cuz this top is inside!

I cannot show you that photo without also mentioning these amazing jeans from Jane. They are just… like butter. I fatpacked them. They fit perfectly. I wasn’t totally sold on mesh jeans in the beginning, but these jeans have completely changed my mind. Mesh just keeps getting better, and Jane is incredibly talented at it. Her creations are always wonderful.

This hair deserves a huge mention as well. Wasabi Pills released this hair especially for CHIC², CHIC Management’s second birthday event. There’s also a ponytail version that Wasabi Pills has out for Zombie Popcorn. The braids framing the face in both versions are just adorable.